


Stay

by marvelousmsmol



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Identity Reveal, Reveal, miraculous ladybug new york special
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26702212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelousmsmol/pseuds/marvelousmsmol
Summary: Marinette doesn't manage to catch Adrien's car in time, but what if he saw her fall?A self-indulgent one shot that begs the question: What if we took the rain scene from the NY special and made it an identity reveal?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 36
Kudos: 578





	Stay

**“Adrien! Stay!”**

Marinette tried to push whatever doubts she still held in her mind away. It had been a split-second decision to start running, not caring about the rain, or wondering how she would be able to catch a car on foot. She just had to tell herself that Alya was right. If she wasn’t honest with herself now, Marinette wasn’t sure she would ever be. 

The bike she “borrowed” might help her pick a bit more speed, but the fear was overtaking her. No one would berate her for trying and failing, Alya would probably be proud of determination and honesty, but Marinette would end up hating herself for letting him get away, especially now that she had admitted to herself everything she had been trying to bottle up inside.

Marinette wasn’t quite sure where the strength she was using to push onward was coming from. The rain pelting down on her face was helping her to keep a cool head, but she could feel the bike tires slipping. As soon as she felt the bike tipping, felt herself losing control, Marinette tried all she could to stay upright. 

_ No, no, no, no!  _ Marinette screamed internally as she collided with the pavement, her clothes, though already wet, became immediately soaked through. She groaned in pain, her knees and elbows smarting, and counted herself extremely lucky that she had taken the time to put on a bicycle helmet. 

“No, please wait…” Marinette tried to push herself back on her feet, but was already feeling her confidence drift away and the hopelessness set in. She knew she was crying, but it wasn’t even noticeable as the tears became mixed with the rainwater. 

Marinette couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe she had let herself lose two of the people she cared about most in the world within the same hour. She wanted to kick herself, and scream, and beat her fists on the ground, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. All she wanted to do was lay there in the rain. It seemed like the most fitting punishment to her to be all alone. 

Marinette didn’t want to be alone, and she knew exactly why. 

“I love you…”   
  


…

“What?” 

The word pierced her mind like an arrow, the sound of his voice registering immediate recognition, but Marinette couldn’t be sure if she were just imagining things or if he were really standing there in front of her. She almost couldn’t bear to look up. 

Marinette let out a shaking, heavy breath as she let her eyes look up one inch from where they had been staring in shock at the ground. Orange sneakers appeared in her view, flooding her with relief and fear at the same time. Her eyes trailed up the figure, all the while hoping familiar clothes wouldn’t end up being a misleading trick. The sight of green eyes staring back at her with a confused and shock expression made her tears return with a greater force. 

Adrien was standing right in front of her, and he had heard her words with undeniable clarity. 

While Marinette might have still been too shocked to move, Adrien seemed to somehow manage to break out of whatever daze he was in and rushed over to. He crouched down, opening up a black umbrella and holding it over both their heads. “Oh my God, Marinette, are you okay,” Adrien said, helping her up into a sitting position. “Are you hurt?”

“How- how are you here,” Marinette said, trying to settle onto her knees in a way that didn’t cause her great pain. “You were gone… The car-”   
  


“I saw you fall in the rearview mirror,” Adrien said. He adjusted the umbrella so it was covering her completely, apparently not caring that the back of his shirt was getting soaked through. “I forced the car to stop, but that doesn’t matter. Tell me if you’re hurt.”

“No,” Marinette said, shaking her head. She was so confused. Why wasn’t he demanding that she explain herself? Was he just trying to brush it off like it never happened? Marinette couldn’t look him in the eye. “No, I’m fine.”

Adrien pulled Marinette into a tight embrace, practically crushing her with his free arm as he buried his face in the crook of his neck. “Thank goodness, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you fall.”   
  


Marinette was frozen in his hold, his touch rendering her immobile. She couldn’t even blink, fairly certain she couldn’t breathe. She wasn’t entirely sure what to do or say, having not thought this far ahead in her poorly put together plan. Alya’s words played over and over in her mind, encouraging her to say all the things she came here to. Marinette knew she had been given a second chance, and if she wasted it, she didn’t think there would ever be time again to get out of this limbo. 

“A-Adrien,” Marinette said, her voice shaking. For a moment it seemed like her strength would fail her, any words ready to be said would be lost to a void of fear forever. She had to get herself unstuck, and so, Marinette wrapped her arms around Adrien, clinging tightly to him. “I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay here with us- With me! Please, please say you’ll stay.”

Marinette waited, and waited, and heard no response in return. Maybe she had been right. Maybe Adrien had been ignoring her words. She shut her eyes tight, but didn’t let go, wishing he hadn’t been so kind as to hold the umbrella above so that she might mask her tears. 

“I want to stay with you, too.” 

Marinette’s eyes shot open, thinking that maybe this time it really was the mixture of the sounds of rain and the busy city pulling a cruel joke. She held her breath. 

“I wanted you to tell me to stay,” Adrien said, his face still buried in her wet hair, resting on her shoulder. He pulled back, looking her straight in the eye. “I don’t think I’m very good at voicing what I want though, so you can totally blame me for all of this.”

Adrien stood to his feet, and held out his empty hand to Marinette. “Forgive me for being so oblivious.”   
  


Taking his hand, Marinette pushed herself back onto her feet with his help. Adrien pulled her in closer, and Marinette’s whole body jolted in fear until she realized that he was just repositioning the umbrella over both of them. 

_ Say something you dummy _ , Marinette chided herself. Adrien wasn’t looking at her expectantly, didn’t seem like he was pressuring her to respond at all, and Marinette was grateful, but she also knew that she had to move forward.

“I love you,” Marinette said again. “I don’t know if you heard me the first time-”   
  


“I did.” Adrien nodded. “I was kind of hoping you’d say it again, so I wouldn’t seem presumptuous. I thought, maybe, you might have been talking about someone else, so…”

“You think I’d go chasing after you in the rain and then start talking about being in love with someone else,” Marinette asked. “That’d be crazy! Well, most of this is actually crazy- I mean, what kind of person goes full on romantic comedy style chase scene. How did I think trying to catch up with a car on a bike was a good idea? Maybe this really was stupid- I mean- No! It’s not stupid like I want to take back what I said! I said it, so I’m pretty sure there’s no possible way either of us are going to forget about it now-”

“Marinette,” Adrien said, interrupting her with a calm and steady voice. Adrien leaned forward and kissed her quickly, the kiss feeling awkward and unsure. He pulled back and seemed almost surprised himself as to what he had just done. “Uh… I’m sorry if that was too forward-”

Marinette interrupted him, pressing her lips to his. Adrien dropped the umbrella and placed one hand on her waist, the other lacing his fingers between her own. Though both felt more sure and at ease, the kiss was still short and sweet. When they broke apart, neither could help the bright smiles that appeared on their faces. Marinette giggled, feeling practically weightless. Her bangs were sticking to her forehead, her pants clinging uncomfortable to her legs, her shoes soaked through, but she could push all that aside in favor of paying attention to the person standing in front of her now. 

Adrien moved his palm from where it was pressed against her waist, and grabbed onto her hand. He opened his mouth, about to speak again, when he paused. As Adrien took ahold of her wrist, Marinette realized her mistake. Chat Noir’s ring was still in her hand, and before she could stop him, Adrien had opened her fingers, revealing the silver, metal ring. 

“Where- Where did you get this?” Marinette tried to think up some excuse as Adrien looked at her waiting for an answer. 

“Uh… I… found it?” Even as Marinette said the words, she knew that neither Adrien nor herself were buying them. 

Adrien picked up the ring from where it was sitting in the palm of her hand, turning it over and over but not slipping it onto his finger. Marinette recognized the look on his, the expression of disappointment, directed at himself, and knew it was the same as her partner’s. 

“Plagg, no!” Tikki said in a harsh whisper, but apparently both the Kwami’s knew as well as they did that the jig was up, they’d played the secrets game for as long as they could. Plagg flew next to Adrien, but didn’t touch him, didn’t say a word, and, after a moment, Tikki joined them, too.

“I walked away from you twice,” Adrien said. He held the ring back out to her, but Marinette wouldn't’ accept that again. 

“No,” She said, pushing his hand back towards him. “I let you go twice. I’m not doing it a third time.”

Adrien looked down at his hand, and Marinette could almost picture him letting it slip from his fingers. She grabbed on tightly to his hand with both of her own. “Don’t let go,” Marinette said, a pleading look in her eyes. “Don’t let go. I asked you to stay, didn’t I?”   
  


“How can you want me to stay when you know that I-”   
  


“Adrien, I need you,” Marinette said. “I don’t want another Chat Noir. You’re the only Chat Noir for me. I could never replace you, never even think about it. It’s not even that I can’t be Ladybug without you. It’s that I don’t want to!”   


He was looking her in the eye again, but only half convinced, and Marinette took it as a sign to keep going.

“Do you know how incredibly silly I feel right now,” Marinette asked. “All this time I’ve been turning you down, your flowers, the dates, because I was in love with  _ you _ ! Adrien, if you walked away from me as Chat Noir, how would you look at me as Marinette?”

“How will you trust me,” Adrien said. “What if I hurt someone else? What if I hurt you?”

“We don’t have to think about that now,” Marinette said, placing a hand on Adrien’s cheek. “Aren’t you the one who said it’s you and me against the world?”   
  


Marinette took the ring from him, holding onto his right hand. He didn’t try to stop her as she slipped the ring back on his finger “Adrien Agreste, will you do me the honor being my Chat Noir till the lack of a supervillain threat do us part?”

Adrien looked down at the ring, and, after a moment, smiled. “You won’t even be able to get rid of me then.”

Marinette threw her arms around Adrien’s neck, and squealed in surprise as he picked her up and began spinning her around. As he set her back down, Marinette pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

“I love you,” Adrien said. “My lady.”

“I love you, too, Chaton.” 


End file.
